On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order pausing enforcement of a key tool in fighting international bribery, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In his executive order, Trump argued that not allowing companies to participate in billions of dollars in international bribery “actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security.”
The law has been on the books for over 47 years and was put in place after a series of scandals involving major corporations paying off public officials took place around the world. Perhaps most notable of these scandals was Watergate, where former President Richard Nixon extorted money from big businesses for a campaign slush fund, then directed his administration to turn a blind eye to abuses by many of those same companies.
More recently, in 2020, Goldman Sachs pleaded guilty to bribing Malaysian officials and had to pay a settlement of more than $2.9 billion. Currently the business interests of billionaire Gautam Adani are under federal investigation for alleged bribery of Indian officials—that case could go by the wayside with Trump’s order.
While Trump is giving a green light to international corporate bribery, his administration is also giving New York Mayor Eric Adams a pass on bribery charges.
The Justice Department has ordered prosecutors to drop the case they were pursuing against Adams for allegedly receiving illegal campaign donations and luxury travel in exchange for favors handed out to Turkish officials. The flip-flop from the Biden administration action occurred after Adams paid a personal visit to Trump at Mar-a-Lago and lavished praise on him.
On the same day Adams received his good news he conveniently ordered city officials to refrain from publicly criticizing Trump and not to interfere with Trump’s anti-migrant deportation actions.
Trump has been wrapped up in the world of bribery allegations as well. In 2019, the Justice Department was reportedly investigating whether the Egyptian government passed off $10 million to assist Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Domestic political campaigns cannot accept money from foreign entities. The probe was dropped.
The pro-bribery stance of the Trump administration echoes other actions embracing a soft-on-crime approach. The Department of Homeland Security has requested that some IRS officials currently pursuing wealthy tax cheats instead be redirected toward immigration matters, while Trump pardoned over 1,500 involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol—leaving them free to commit more crimes.
Trump is the first convicted felon to serve as president and is making great strides toward helping out his fellow law breakers.
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